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The Ethne prayer workgroup hosted the Fellowship of Prayer Strategists held Jan 31-Feb 2, 2014 in Plano, TX, at the Act Beyond offices and was attended by 45 leaders, including 2 from Africa, 5 from Latin America, 6 from Indonesia as well as from Europe and North America. Believing prayer is the indispensable key to the unfinished task, we sensed the Lord calling people of prayer to model and assist others in cultivating conversational relationship with God and igniting movements to Christ based on extraordinary prayer particularly among unreached people groups.

Goals were to: a) facilitate prayer in order to maximize its fruitfulness especially on behalf of strategy teams laboring in the most difficult fields, b) coach/mentor home and field personnel in building greater intimacy with God, stronger prayer teams and integrating prayer in all they do, c) building stronger connections between agencies, denominations and the global prayer movements, and d) allow iron to sharpen iron—through accountability and agreement in prayer. Eleven key leaders shared case studies of different spheres of prayer and their role in igniting movements to Christ. Following the case studies, small groups discussed the issues and the plenary group summarized the sense we were getting from the Lord in each of these areas.

Key outcomes included recognition of the need to more formally define “prayer strategist” and their role and to do more writing and theological discussion about this for the wider Body of Christ. Many participants strongly identified with the concept and the various aspects of this type of approach. These included the role of intimacy with God, partnering and networking in prayer and the synergy that results, facilitating such an approach in organizations, denominations, and teams, onsite prayer and prayer rooms, including prayer as ministry and part of member health, prayer journeys and prayerwalking with a view to breakthroughs, repentance and reconciliation as part of igniting movements, 24/7 prayer and houses of prayer and their role, and prayer as strategy.

As the Ethne movement has been considering how the various working groups could intentionally work together toward finishing the task and accelerating movements to Christ among those with the least access to the gospel, the Ephesus vision emerged as one way that these groups could join hands together focused on identified gaps. This Fellowship of Prayer Strategists is the direction the prayer working group is going to encourage a synthesis of effort where it is needed most. We expect further such gatherings to be held in various regions around the world over the next several years to develop the vision further. More detailed noted are available upon request from asianrd@sr21.com.

Both of these situations, as well as the flooding in Central America, particularly El Salvador, and other disaster situations present kairos moments for the gospel. Pray for believers to recognize this moment and have enough presence of mind and calmness of spirit to seize this for His kingdom’s sake. Pray for them to rise above their own concerns and be filled with the love of God for those without hope in this world and apart from eternal salvation. Pray for God’s peace to keep their hearts and minds quiet and at rest in Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit to empower them to do what they can to be His hands and feet in this lost and dying world. Pray especially for areas such as Turkey and the Arab world nations to have more than enough believers that can give an answer for the hope within them in such turbulent situations! The world needs us now to allow our lights to shine brightly, even in the midst of chaos and confusion-especially there!!

Floods in Thailand

Bangkok, Thailand (CNN) — Floodwaters in Bangkok have reached Don Muang Airport, one of the Thai capital’s two main airports and home to the flood relief operation command, which may have to move to another location, according to the governor.

In addition to Don Muang, residents in five other areas should prepare for floods, move their belongings to upper floors and take shelter at evacuation centers.

Pray for:

God’s mercy and supernatural favor – to stop and clear the flood and for the safety and comfort for the victims and to SAVE the people of Thailand.

The brothers and sisters in Christ, Churches and Missionaries in Thailand so that they be the hands and feet of Jesus to those in need.

____

Earthquake in Turkey

Turkey – Using heavy machinery and their bare hands, rescue workers scrambled through piles of rubble to find survivors on Monday after a deadly 7.2 magnitude earthquake devastated parts of eastern Turkey.

As of Monday morning, there were as many as 264 fatalities, and 1,300 injuries. 970 buildings also collapsed, some of them apartment buildings.

Pray for:

– Those who lost loved ones and possessions in the quake

- The missions- and aid workers who are bringing comfort and care to the victims

– The Church in Turkey to grow through this disaster by being the distribution points for supplies and workers

– The Believers to use this opportunity to bring the Gospel to those who have yet to hear

Both of these situations, as well as the flooding in Central America, particularly El Salvador, and other disaster situations present kairos moments for the gospel. Pray for believers to recognize this moment and have enough presence of mind and calmness of spirit to seize this for His kingdom’s sake. Pray for them to rise above their own concerns and be filled with the love of God for those without hope in this world and apart from eternal salvation. Pray for God’s peace to keep their hearts and minds quiet and at rest in Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit to empower them to do what they can to be His hands and feet in this lost and dying world. Pray especially for areas such as Turkey and the Arab world nations to have more than enough believers that can give an answer for the hope within them in such turbulent situations! The world needs us now to allow our lights to shine brightly, even in the midst of chaos and confusion—especially there!!

12 years ago, on 2 October 1999, an International Day of Prayer for Sudan was called. People in many places prayed for Sudan. During the past 12 years, Sudan has been changed irrevocably, even in spite of perilous times experienced right now.

Prompted by the lead of the Holy Spirit, the Sudan Support Network is calling believers world-wide to Rejoice in God for who He is and to bring the two Sudans to the Heavenly Father’s throne of grace.

Please pray / organize prayer where you are to lift the two Sudans to the Father. He is mighty to save.

MODERATOR’S NOTE: We welcome you to join PrayerCentral in praying for the peoples of Japan in the month of May.

Hello!
I hope you had a great weekend! As you know, we’re praying for Japan through May. Last week I met with prayer leaders who had just flown in from Japan and one of them has written her firsthand account for you. You will find that below – be sure to pray too!

This morning this verse flew into my mind as soon as I woke up, “…Let those who love Thy salvation say continually, ‘Let God be magnified.’ ” Psalm 70. In other words, lift up God. Bring Him to the center, to the forefront, in midst of the pressure…

By now you have all heard the Breaking News that OSAMA BIN LADEN is DEAD.

One of our coordinator adds,

“Osama’s death may help alleviate the deep grief Americans experienced after 9/11, a grief that has continued for the past 10 years. However it is unlikely to have a major impact on reducing terrorism as the terrorist cells are very decentralised and now have bases in over 100 countries. They do not need an overall leader. It may even have the opposite effect of creating a martyr out of Osama and his martyrdom may be used as a catalyst for an increase in terrorist attacks.

We will have to watch and pray and see how this latest development plays out on the world stage.

Then there is the potential backlash to Christians and Christian workers living in Muslim-majority nations to consider. Please pray for the safety of our friends and co-workers in the fields ripe unto harvest.

While there is a sense of joy, celebration, relief and perhaps even the beginning of healing in American, I believe we should see this incident as a call to greater prayer for the Muslim world than we have engaged in to date.

To that end, I urge you all to participate in the “30 Days of Prayer for the Muslim World” during the month of Ramadan, 1-30 August 2011, and to encourage those your colleges, churches and networks to get involved also.”

From the Alliance of Protestant Churches (Turkey) comes the following message:

To Church Leaders and Christians Worldwide,

Greetings from the church in Turkey — from the land of Noah, of Abraham, of Paul, of Ararat and Harran, of Antioch, Ephesus, Galatia, of the Seven Churches of Revelation…

Please pray for the blessing and peace of Turkey in general, as the Lord desires us to bless and be a blessing to all. “By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted…” Proverbs 11:11

Pray the Lord will display His love and mercy to the people of Turkey by pouring out His Holy Spirit upon our land, revealing His glory through healings, signs and wonders.

Pray the Lord breaks down the lies and the endless disinformation about Christ, the Bible and Christians that has blinded and hardened hearts in our land.

Pray that God redeems the negative memories of history. “Of course, we are living in the flesh, but we do not fight in a fleshly way. For the weapons of our warfare are not those of the flesh. Instead, they have the power of God to demolish fortresses. We tear down arguments and every proud obstacle that is raised against the knowledge of God, taking every thought captive in order to obey Christ.” 2 Co. 10:3-5

Pray that hearts and eyes are opened to see Jesus as the way, the truth and the life.

Pray the Turkish believers who are always on the frontline to walk close to the Lord.

Pray for more servant hearted leaders. For good role models. For faithful laborers.

Pray for the ongoing unity amongst the churches and for its increase and deepening. “May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Romans 15:5, 6

Thank you for your prayers. May the Lord’s hand be upon you always.

On behalf of the Body of Christ in Turkey

Alliance of Protestant Churches (Turkey)

Please read the full message here and keep praying for Turkey even beyond this day.

Three months ago, the Open Doors World Watch List positioned North Korea as the No. 1 persecutor of Christians for the ninth year in a row.

The evil empire of North Korea certainly deserves the ranking. In 2010, hundreds of embattled Christians were arrested for various reasons. Some were killed while others were sentenced to political camps. Last year there were 23 Christians in a house church in Pyungsung province who were discovered by the police. Three of them were immediately sentenced to death because of the meeting.

Open Doors USA is offering several ways in which people can help brave Christians in North Korea, estimated at 400,000, during North Korea Freedom Week April 24-30.

You can receive prayer e-mails from Open Doors during North Korea Freedom Week. The e-mails will offer information on North Korea and how Christians can pray for believers there, based on Scripture from Isaiah 59 through 66. To sign up to receive the seven e-mails, go towww.OpenDoorsUSA.org/nkfw.

Christians in the West can also send messages of hope into North Korea through the airwaves. Open Doors, in partnership with the North Korea Freedom Coalition, is urging participation in the “LettersFrom America” program hosted by Free North Korea Radio. Through the program, messages will be broadcast into North Korea. To send a message and for instructions on the contents of the message, go to www.OpenDoorsUSA.org/nkfw.

“North Korea is a nightmare which never ends for thousands. We need to bathe our brothers and sisters in prayer. Let’s together shatter the darkness.” says Michele Miller, Director of Open Doors USA Ministries.

In answer to cries from people on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border, faith leaders are launching a joint prayer and fasting initiative this month to seek divine intervention in resolving border problems and the drug cartel violence and trafficking that plagues the region.

The Cinco de Mayo Initiative is being spearheaded by Mark Gonzalez, founder of the Hispanic Prayer Network. Beginning April 15, participants will be convening for 21 days in Dallas, Mexico City, and at the border for prayer.

The 21 days have been marked out with a prayer guide, with the first day being a “day of cleansing” which includes dealing with stereotypes and racism on both sides.

Since sending the first information about CPI, there has been strong progress. There are now 49 nations taking part in Project 54, the adopt a nation campaign in the lead up to CHOGM 2011. This includes several non Commonwealth nations and the organizers are still working on getting the remaining nations in the Commonwealth on board.

A Plea for freedom for =
Christians in Egypt.A) To Stop all forms of discrimination =
against Christians in Egypt. 1. Plea for equality 2. Plea for =
freedom to build churches 3. Equal opportunities to hold government =
posts. 4. Plea to guarantee all their civil and legal rights. 5. =

B) We plea for freedom and equality for former Muslims in Egypt and =
to guarantee their civil and legal rights to follow their new belief. =

1. Freedom for Converts from Islam 2. Freedom to =
change religion (from Islam to other faiths) in their identity cards =

3. Freeing of prisoners who are in prison because they converted to =
Christianity. Christians are discriminated against and do not have =
equal opportunities to get government posts. It was very difficult to =
get permission to build churches or places of worship for non-Muslims. =
Many times the president’s permission is required, while building =
mosques are encouraged by exempted buildings which has mosques from =
taxes. An example of restriction of building churches is the clash which =
happened between the police and the congregation in Giza which was =
trying to extend their building last fall and at least one person were =
killed and a couple of hundred were injured. And not so long before that =
there were two other incidents in Marsa Matrouh and Ain Shams, where the =
buildings were attacked and vandalized, as they were doing extensions of =
their churches.

Converts to Christianity have not been =
able to change their religion in their identity card. (from Muslim to =
Christian) Muslim women were not allowed to marry a non-Muslim. Rev. =
Thomas is now serving a 5 years jail sentence because he married a =
Christian woman (a convert from Islam) to a Christian man. =

Gohary and =
Higazi and Nagla Al-Imam are in hiding because of their conversion to =
Christianity. Today Ashraf=
is in prison for over one and half year because of the same reason. =
Others fled the country they loved and got separated from their loved =
ones. These are just some samples of many others.

(you =
can read more about these cases in www.freedom2worship.org =
under current cases) / Kamal Fahmi – Set My People =
Free –

With all the government shake-ups happening in Tunisia, if you’re like me, you’re wondering, “Well, yeah, but what can one little person do to help a whole nation come to peace?” Well now, there’s an answer.

I know the people running this. It’s the real deal. They *love* the people of Tunisia and want to help. They’re searching for, as John Piper put it, a “whole mob of people” to pray for good things to happen to this struggling land. Join them.

This month we have been focusing prayer on the Buddhist peoples of South Asia particularly those in the high Himalayas in NW and NE India, Nepal and Bhutan. Flooding has devastated the Ladakhi peoples located next to Tibet and Nepal-remember to pray for relief workers and those suffering in the aftermath of this devastation there!

September brings our focus to Hindu peoples. Don’t forget you can obtain free daily prayer items from www.globalprayerdigest.org by simply subscribing. You can visit their website or get a text email for a simple daily reminder and prayer guide. www.joshuaproject.net/ethne.php has further detailed information if you want to dig deeper. www.etnopedia.org makes available people profiles in a number of different languages including English. www.prayerguard.net/ethne provides 3-minute guided scripture prayers for the people groups and regions.

With the devastating flooding occurring across Pakistan, we want to give you a bit of further information on this area so near to our focus for the next four months! As you are aware, Pakistan is home to many Al Qaeda and Taliban forces, as well as home to over 184 million people and 448 least-reached people groups. Of these, the three largest groups are the Jat Muslim (32 million), the Northern Pashtun (22 million), and the Muslim Rajput (17 million)-these three groups compose nearly half the population. Threats from the Taliban were made against relief groups attempting to assist those desperately seeking to survive the flooding and recover from the massive damage. Join us in praying for God to move in power amidst this devastation, to reveal His glory, His love and His power to save. As these events shake what can be shaken, pray that God causes eternal foundations to be laid in many hearts which can never be shaken!